Small transport aircraft pilot reported not contacting departure control and stayed with tower until...

Attributes
ACN	1759543
Time
Date	202009
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Transport Low Wing 2 Turboprop Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 3200 Flight Crew Type 400
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Upon initial climbout I was given a turn on course direct to my destination. I was not told to contact departure so I stayed on with tower. I was flying the aircraft as I wanted to maintain proficiency in my flight skills. I have not flown this aircraft for nearly two months; and I had a forward passenger who kept trying to talk after I politely reminded him that I could not talk until cruise. Even though I have a lot of time in this aircraft I should have used the autopilot to maintain better situational awareness. Approximately 4;000 feet 6 nm into the flight I noticed I was still on with tower. I switched to ZZZ center; told my altitude they then gave me a clearance up to 13;000 feet MSL. There was absolutely no issue; but I just wanted to fill out this report anyways.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Small Transport aircraft pilot reported not contacting Departure Control and stayed with Tower until switching to Center Control.

Narrative: Upon initial climbout I was given a turn on course direct to my destination. I was not told to contact Departure so I stayed on with Tower. I was flying the aircraft as I wanted to maintain proficiency in my flight skills. I have not flown this aircraft for nearly two months; and I had a forward passenger who kept trying to talk after I politely reminded him that I could not talk until cruise. Even though I have a lot of time in this aircraft I should have used the autopilot to maintain better situational awareness. Approximately 4;000 feet 6 nm into the flight I noticed I was still on with Tower. I switched to ZZZ Center; told my altitude they then gave me a clearance up to 13;000 feet MSL. There was absolutely no issue; but I just wanted to fill out this report anyways.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Small transport aircraft pilot reported not contacting departure control and stayed with tower until switching to center control.